Article Comment: About the EOTopo Mapset

HI Sam,
Yes I can confirm that we most definitely still intend to release the 2017 EOTopo raster map set update asap to replace the existing 2015.1 200K mapset and yes if we can get the file sizes acceptable in 144K raster we will.

All I can say is that we are working on it and of course would love to give a date but that is impossible at this stage. There is so much we want/need to do with the update and we are perfectionists so we will only release it when it is ready.

I know you said you don't want to use a mobile device so by this I presume you have considered getting the ExplorOz Traveller app for Android or iOs. One benefit to you is the improved resolution display in these devices vs a notebook, and the EOTopo maps in the Traveller app are exactly the same as the online version of the maps that you say you have a preference for. The advantage is that in the app you have offline access to the maps. Another difference between EOTopo raster mapset and the EOTopo maps in the app is that the maps display ALL PLACES as icons on the map (although you can choose which Place types are displayed via a filter control). In the raster mapset where you can't control the layers, it would be too messy to have all the Places shown as it would get too messy, so the raster mapset only shows position of primary camps/accom POIs plus primary Point of Interest POIs (camera icon). Many of the active layers are reduced to flattern raster layers so you can still see labels for mountains, rivers etc but in the Traveller App these are all interactive and you can click the icon to see photos, description, reviews and setup a navigation plan to drive from your current position to the selected waypoint (Place). And of course, the Place and Trek data in the raster mapset is not able to be updated/refreshed to your offline data storage upon demand as it is now with the Traveller app version.

For now the mapping via the app is superior to the raster mapset and you would benefit for the time being as the 2017 EOTopo release will flow across all platforms but it certainly will be a minimum of a couple of months away from release.

By the way, what "other information" bothers you about using a mobile device for navigation? Mobile devices have many notification control features so you should be able to deactivate anything you don't want to interfere with your active navigation map screen.

Hope this helps.